CHAPTER XXII 



PLANTING of winter wheat in Nebraska and Kansas, 

 the two largest wheat-growing States in the Union 

 chiefly winter wheat became popular, not so much 

 because of its profits, as because it matures before the 

 dreaded hot winds come, and was frequently an abun- 

 dant crop, when spring wheat and other wheat sub- 

 stitutes were destroyed. 



As a " safety-first " war measure, the sowing of 

 winter wheat, especially, should have been stimulated 

 to the limit. A hot wind next August may be a 

 greater menace to our cause than the appearance of 

 Hun submarines off our Atlantic Coast. But for price 

 fixing, the temporarily abnormally high prices of 

 wheat would, in my opinion, have so stimulated the 

 growing of that cereal, that we would not only have 

 had an abundant supply, both for export and home 

 use, but that this extra supply would have resulted in 

 prices no higher than are now being paid, especially by 

 the consumer. 



As an illustration of the effect of price-fixing, in a 

 certain locality in Illinois, where wheat, especially win- 

 ter wheat, for many years had been unprofitable, and 

 hence practically abandoned, one farmer had an abun- 

 dant harvest thirty bushels per acre of high 

 grade wheat, then worth $3 a bushel. He was ready 

 to sell. This price and yield appealed to the farmers 

 of that community; so many of them applied for seed, 



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